| Sunday,
May 21, 2006 Getting ready to be gone a week.
=============
The Fury of the
Legions
“We had been told, on leaving our native soil, that we
were going to defend the sacred rights conferred on us by so many of our
citizens settled overseas, so many years of our presence, so many benefits
brought by us to populations in need of our assistance and our civilization.
“We were able to verify that all this was true, and
because it was true, we did not hesitate to shed our quota of blood, to
sacrifice our youth and our hopes. We regretted nothing, but whereas we over
here are inspired by this frame of mind, I am told that in Rome factions and
conspiracies are rife, that treachery flourishes, and that many people in
their uncertainty and confusion lend a ready ear to the dire temptations of
relinquishment and even to vilify our actions.
“I cannot believe that all this is true, and yet
recent wars have shown how pernicious such a state of mind could be and to
where it could lead.
“Make haste to reassure us, I beg you, and tell us
that our fellow citizens understand us, support us, and protect us as we
ourselves are protecting the glory of the Empire.
“If it should be otherwise, if we should have to leave
our bleached bones on these desert sands in vain, then beware the fury of
the Legions.”
Centurion Marcus Flavinius, Second Cohort,
Augusta Legion to his cousin Tertullus in Rome. No date given.
= = =
The first edition of Lartegy’s The Centurions,
a novel about the French Army including the Foreign Legion in Viet Nam and
Algiers, carried this quotation as a frontispiece. I once had that edition
of the book, but it has vanished, and the copy I have has no trace of
this quote. I thought I recalled that Lartegy included a date, but I don’t
recall what that date was. From the context I would guess it to be at the
close of the Second Century Anno Domini.
I am not certain to whom Lartegy attributed this
letter. Lartegy gave no source data.
The July, 2006 edition of Soldier of Fortune Magazine
used it as the monthly editorial, which renewed my interest in the quote.
SOF gives no source. I have used snippets from this quotation in some of my
work including essays here on this web site.
I also find it used at
http://flecha.co.uk/ which is a
memorial to a battalion of the Republic of South Africa troops known as “The
Terrible Ones.”
Tertullus is a Roman name. It has a number of variants.
There is extant a letter from a Tertullus concerning Libya, but it is a plea
for tolerance. It is in the time of Septimius Severus. Severus was born in
Libya, and was the first non-Italian Emperor. There was never again a Roman
Emperor from Rome; Commodus was the last Roman-born Emperor.
Severus seized the throne after Commodus, son of Marcus
Aurelius, provoked revolt (see the movie The Gladiator, which isn’t the way
things were but is an attempt to show how they ought to have been). The
Praetorians assassinated Pertinax, successor to Commodus, because they were
underpaid or believed they were. Septimius Severus marched on Rome on that
news; he later deified Pertinax. He also abolished the Praetorian Guard as
it had been known. He would have been less than thrilled at the discovery of
a letter like this from his old provinces; another reason why it is unlikely
to have been in his reign, since the African Legions had installed their own
commander as Emperor.
There was also a Tertullus in the time of St. Paul:
Tertullus
a modification of "Tertius;"
a Roman
advocate, whom the Jews employed
to state their case against
Paul in the presence of
Felix (Acts
24:1-9). The charges he adduced against the apostle were, "First,
that he created disturbances among the Romans throughout the empire, an
offense against the Roman
government (crimen majestatis). Secondly, that he was a ringleader of the
sect of the
Nazarenes; disturbed the Jews in
the exercise of their religion, guaranteed by the state; introduced new
gods, a thing prohibited by the Romans. And thirdly, that he attempted to
profane the temple, a crime which the Jews were permitted to punish."
It would make little sense for this letter to have been
written in the time of St. Paul. It would be far more likely in the time of
Commodus, or in the upheavals after the death of Septimius Severus. Recall
that prior to Commodus there had been the reign of the “good Emperors.” This
was brought to an end by Aurelius’ failure to appoint a suitable successor,
so that his less than able son was raised to the purple. This was the
beginning of the long slide into civil war.
The Army at this time (Septimius Severus) was still
composed of heavy infantry, Legions, armed much as they had been for a
century. It would be another 175 years before the Legions succumbed to heavy
cavalry (at Adrianople) and the army was transformed into something entirely
different. However, by the time of Severus the Army was entirely composed of
long-term professionals, and Centurions – think warrant officers or senior
non-coms – were promoted from the ranks. The officer corps was drawn from
the Equestrian and Senatorial orders in Rome. Severus was a Senator, but had
been born in Libya and was considered a provincial.
Of course. every century is likely to have had one or
more men named "Tertullus" who left no trace of his existence other than a
letter from a cousin. However, there are few periods in which a Roman
warrant officer might have written such a letter. It would be far more
likely to have been written by a Tribune, an Equestrian or Senatorial class
youth sent to learn the military trade as part of a normal career.
There is a discussion of the authenticity of this quote
(concluding that it is not authentic) on this web site:
http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2001/01/0094.php
=================
Subject: Windows Word vulnerability
http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=1348
-- Roland Dobbins
This is worth your attention. Note that you must open a WORD
DOCUMENT attachment to an email. I trust you don't open unexpected
attachments of any kind to begin with. I also trust that all of you have
your systems up to date complete with updated virus detections.
=========
I am off to Seattle at Oh-dark-thirty so nothing will be here until
evening at earliest.
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